BioTISCH:

he interactive molecularbiologylabbench

Florian Echtler

Technische Universität MünchenDepartment of Computer ScienceFachgebiet Augmented RealityGarching, Germanyechtler@in.tum.de

Maximilian Häussler

University of ManchesterFaculty of Life SciencesManchester, UKmaximilian.haussler@manchester.ac.uk

Gudrun Klinker

Technische Universität MünchenDepartment of Computer ScienceFachgebiet Augmented RealityGarching, Germanyklinker@in.tum.deCopyright is held by the author/owner(s).

CHI 2010

, April 10–15, 2010, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.ACM 978-1-60558-930-5/10/04.

Abstract

In a molecular biology lab, scientists often need to executestrictly defined sequences of operations, typically mixingspecific amounts of reagents. The exact steps requireinformation from various sources, like manuals, websitesand own notes. Direct access to a computer at the benchwould be highly desirable but is rarely implemented, ascomputers do not fit well into a wet lab environment.In this paper, we present BioTISCH, an interactiveworkbench for molecular biology laboratories. We show aprototypical setup of an interactive table which provides asterile user interface for access to existing documentationand for common tasks such as unit conversions. Theexample illustrates that interactive tables blend very wellinto a modern biological laboratory and could improveaccess and exchange of information in this environment.

Keywords

interactive table, lab bench, molecular biology, userinterface

ACM Classification Keywords

H5.2. Information interfaces and presentation (e.g., HCI):User Interfaces

General Terms

Experimentation, Human Factors

CHI 2010: Work-in-Progress (Spotlight on Posters Days 1 & 2)April 12–13, 2010, Atlanta, GA, USA3439

Introduction

In molecular biology, scientists spend considerable amountsof time in the wetlab. Their main tools are pipettes and abench where experiments with DNA or RNA molecules areconducted. One example for such an experiment is DNAcloning. The goal here is the insertion of a linear piece of DNA into a plasmid, a circular DNA molecule replicated bybacteria. Today, preparation of such an experiment issupported by computer software and various websites: thescientist examines the chart of the target plasmid, selects asuitable cutting enzyme and calculates the required quantityof water, enzyme, buffer solution and DNA. These valuesare mostly printed on a sheet of paper and carried to the labbench where these amounts are mixed. During theexperiment, details and results are recorded into apaper-based notebook.An experiment like DNA cloning illustrates that molecularbiologists could greatly benefit from direct access tosoftware tools at their bench. In addition, the physicalseparation between wet lab and write-up areas hinder thesuccess of ”Electronic lab notebooks” [14]. If allexperimental results were stored digitally, ”open notebookscience” [3] [16], a complete sharing of experimental results similar to open source software development, wouldbe much easier to realize in the life sciences.However, a practical technology to reconcile the wet-lab withthe write-up area is not evident and rarely addressed in theliterature. Computer keyboards are hard to use with glovesand take up precious space on the bench. Pen-based TabletPCs[15]represent a big step towards ubiquitous computingin the lab [2][1] but do not fit perfectly into a environment full of various strong acids and solvents. Scanning andannotating paper-based lab notebooks [12]preserves thedata but still does not bring the Internet and its tools anddatabases closer and takes time to write.Figure 1: Real-world example of a molecular biology work-bench. Visibleitemsincludeadjustablepipettes, reagentcon-tainers of various sizes, Eppendorf sample tubes and a largevariety of notes and printouts.Consequently, today’s lab benches are still cluttered withhand-written sheets or printouts. To our surprise, manyusers even scribble calculations and notes directly onto their

CHI 2010: Work-in-Progress (Spotlight on Posters Days 1 & 2)April 12–13, 2010, Atlanta, GA, USA3440

glass-covered bench with a pen - see figure1for areal-world example. This observation inspired us to try anintegration of software tools directly into the lab benchitself. As it often consists of a diffuse glass surface, one candirect a projector from underneath and recognize usergestures with a camera. In particular, with this kind of setup, one can not only detect touches to the glass, but alsoobjects on the surface such as reagent containers and tools.

Related Work

We are not aware of any previous applications of interactivetables in life science laboratories. Therefore, we will reviewrelated work regarding interactive surface technologies ingeneral.The primary requirement for the implementation of such asetup is the ability to track multiple objects and touch pointson a tabletop surface. One very popular approach by J. Han[10] is based on FTIR (frustrated total internal reflection).However, this method requires modification of the glasssurface with infrared emitters and is therefore difficult tointegrate into an existing commercial lab bench. Analternative technique is diffuse illumination, which onlyrequires a camera and infrared emitter to be mounted belowthe surface. This approach is used, among others, in thereacTable[11]and Microsoft Surface[13]and offers the opportunity to also track objects on the table in addition totouches. One application of this second approach is theSurfaceWare system by Dietz et al. [4] which employs thisfeature to track and annotate glass containers on theinteractive surface.Our prototype is based on the TISCH system [7, 8, 6] whichprovides a hard- and software infrastructure for rapiddevelopment of interactive surface applications. The corecomponents are a large-scale interactive table whichsupports both previously described tracking modes formaximum flexibility and a widget framework for easyimplementation of a graphical user interface.

BioTISCH

The core concept of BioTISCH is to provide the workingbiologist with data needed for the running experiment.There are four main tasks which can be supported by theBioTISCH:• browsing through the experiment log and ticking off completed steps• viewing plasmid charts from a web database• performing calculations such asmolarity/concentration conversions• indicating the next reagent to be addedFigure 2: BioTISCH interface in use.